Items tagged with social

What a week it's been for reddit fans. We reported late last week that protests were being held in support of beloved admin Victoria Taylor who was fired seemingly out of nowhere. Over the weekend, protests became so severe that those who didn't know what was going on found out quick enough. In fact, these in-your-face protests resulted a in petition supporting the firing of CEO Ellen Pao being signed by well over 100,000 people just over the weekend. Given the hoopla, and not to mention the fact that CEO Ellen Pao spoke to other media since July 2, you'd be correct in thinking that it's taken...Read more...

It's been quite a month for reddit, and not in a way that paints a pretty picture for the site's future. For months now, many vocal users of reddit have discussed their distaste with the site, especially following the arrival of new CEO Ellen Pao. From the outside, it appears that she knows little about running this kind of business, and recent legal matters have made people wonder how reddit hired her in the first place. And then, the banning of the Fat People Hate sub-reddit happened, just under a month ago. Under new rules, reddit promised to close down sub-reddits that were, in effect, houses...Read more...

It's not often that Facebook rolls-out features I consider to be useful, but it's hard to argue that suicide-prevention features it launched last month are good, or are at least backed by good intentions. The easiest-to-use feature is to flag a post as being made by a suicidal person, at which point Facebook will contact the person at next login, and offer them ways to get help. If the situation is dangerous, Facebook might decide to contact the person's local police. That's all fine and dandy, but people must realize that these features aren’t meant to be abused. A San Mateo man learned...Read more...

As a result of a new deal between Google and Twitter, we'll soon be seeing tweets pop up in Google searches just like all other results, if the content is relevant. For Twitter, this is a big move to help bring more people to the site, and generate more pageviews for advertisers, while for Google, it improves its spidering in order to provide more relevant results. Prior to this deal, Google had to spider Twitter like most other sites, which doesn't give it the accuracy or speed that the company aims for. While it might catch wind of a popular tweet at some point, it's unlikely to be snatched and...Read more...

According to new reports, Twitter is planning to roll out its long-rumored native video feature in just a couple of weeks. The company's goal isn't to compete with the likes of YouTube, though. Instead, the company is aiming to get people to come back to the service more often, and given the enormous popularity of Twitter-owned Vine, its potential is great. Up to this point, those who've shared video on their Twitter profiles have had to paste it in from a competing platform, or from Vine. The problem with Vine, though, is that its clips are limited to 6 seconds. According...Read more...

It goes without saying that social media brings with it a slew of benefits -- quite simply, I couldn't imagine not having it at this point. It's proven a great way to not only keep in better contact with friends and family, but also to clue me in on what’s happening around the world; nowadays, most of the news I see comes from Facebook first. But, while that's all fine and good, I'll be the first to admit the social media is also rife with downsides, some of which are borderline rage inducing. Take Facebook's "Year In Review", for example. I admittedly don't share that much...Read more...

Has the beginning of the end of Facebook finally arrived? Probably not, but any hint at a decline isn't a great sign. While Facebook at the moment still dominates social media, both on the desktop and mobile, a recent study reveals that many people in the US and UK are beginning to use the service less and less. This is especially true where teenagers are concerned. According to the study, 50% of people said that their Facebook usage declined, a number that bursts to 64% when looking at the 16 - 19 demographic. Of those, 54% of teenagers said that their interest simply waned in the service, and...Read more...

A couple of months ago, Facebook caused quite a stir when it wanted drag queens to use their real names on the service. Of course, this isn't a rule that affects only drag queens, but that was this community that became the loudest opposition. Last week, we established that the entire thing was a big misunderstanding, and that Facebook is actually fine with people using the name they're best known for. Well, if you had any lingering doubt about Facebook's sudden change-of-heart, a new report might help settle your opinion. The company is apparently working on a brand-new mobile app that will allow...Read more...

As widespread as social media is, and as close as it is to many of our lives, there's still much to learn about it. This is especially true with regards to how shared goals are achieved, and exactly how people are using social media to spread information. Companies like Twitter stand to gain from such advanced knowledge, as do many others, so the company has put up $10 million to have the Massachusetts Institute of Technology create tools that would help us better understand such things. MIT is calling its lab for the project "Laboratory of Social Machines", and it will begin by snatching a lot...Read more...

Last weekend, we wrote about Ello, a proposed "Facebook-killer". Despite its myriad of lacking features and minimalistic interface, the service has grown incredibly in the past couple of weeks, all thanks to a bad move made by Facebook: Forcing people best-known under an alias to use their real names. The drag community has been integral in making Facebook take note that forcing a real name is not a great idea. Outside of that community, there are many legitimate reasons why someone might want, or need, to use an alias. Nonetheless, changes are coming, and I'm sure that's something many will be...Read more...

Many people have finally become truly fed-up with the likes of Facebook. All the ads, all the tracking, all the rules. Last month, the world's most popular social network found itself in hot water after it forced some drag performers to use their real names, and while it's not hard to understand Facebook's reasoning, it's a no-brainer that some people simply can't use their real names, either in the name of safety, or because they're better-known under an alias. It's for reasons like this, and especially privacy, that the popularity surrounding up-and-comer social network Ello has exploded. As...Read more...

We've always wondered if the digital world was spacious enough for Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, and it seems that the answer to that is becoming ever clearer. G+ was mocked for years by those who felt that it joined the social race too late, and that Google was simply bullying users of its other products into signing up and linking an account. Forcing folks to use a product is no great way to organically grow a passionate user base, and it appears that even Google is now realizing that. Quietly, Google has removed the requirement that all new Gmail sign-ups also sign up for a Google+ account....Read more...

We're all pretty proud to admit that we've watched Citizen Kane or any other legendary classic, but those late-night cartoons and goofy sob stories? Not so much. Part of the digital economy is sharing. If you've got a product, it's really only to grow so much as folks will talk about it online. Obviously, Netflix stands to gain a lot (new subscribers, keeping existing ones interested, etc.) by having you share your viewing habits with others on social media. But up until this week, that sharing was public by default, which caused many to pause before blasting to the entire world what they were...Read more...

Late this week, Facebook announced that it's begun rolling out a new mobile feature to a small number of users that greatly enhances the service's search capabilities. Anyone who's ever used Facebook's search on mobile or the desktop are probably well-aware that it's not exactly the greatest tool out there - sometimes I even have difficulty getting a result for someone already on my friend's list. But finding people and groups is fairly easy; finding content from your friends' old posts is not. With this updated search, Facebook is looking to change that - but again, just for mobile. If you've...Read more...